Amar Ekushey Boi Mela: Friday brings smiles on publishers’ faces

It was quite a sight. The premises of the Boi Mela in Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan were packed with bookworms. They were moving from one stall to another, turning through the pages of the books available and buying them.

As it was a Friday, the fair opened for visitors at 11:00am yesterday, hours earlier than the usual slot. The first two hours of the fair were dedicated to children.

Hundreds of them surrounded Sisimpur Mancha at Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela yesterday. They were accompanied by mascots of the popular characters from Sesame Street's Bangladeshi adaptation.

Marking the "Shishu Prahar", Sisimpur's Halum, Ikri and Tuktuki recommended the children read more books and consequently performed skits, much to their excitement. Besides, children were seen walking around holding the hands of their guardians, and some were also being carried by the adults accompanying them.

According to Shyamal Kumar Das, publisher of Ghasfaring Prakashani, the crowd on the third Friday was more than double that of the previous two Fridays and sales were up.

Mohiuddin Ahmed and Ratri Ahmed came to the fair from Banashree in the morning with their daughter Rupkotha. They said that they brought little Rupkotha to the fair to cultivate reading habits in her.

There was a huge crowd of readers yesterday in front of almost all the publications in the Suhrawardy Udyan. In particular, Anyaprakash, Mawla Brothers, Kakoli Prakashani, Samay Prakashan, Tamralipi, Pearl Publications and Prathama publications saw the most number of visitors.

Ashik Mahmud, a book lover who dropped by the fair yesterday, said, "I have come to the fair to buy my favourite books. I bought some books of essays on the culture of Bangladesh."

Sabbir Hossain, another visitor, said, "I live in Uttara, so it is tough to visit the fair regularly. That is why I choose the holiday. I bought some books by my favourite writers."

Hasan Zahedi Tuhin, owner of Pearl Publications, said, "Books are selling well. This arrival of people is a promising sign for us."

Sanaul Kabir Chowdhury Kiron, in charge of the pavilion of Anyaprakash, echoed the same.

According to Bangla Academy, 276 new books were published at the fair yesterday. With this, the number of new books in this year's fair stands at 1,936.